Forgive me for geeking out for a minute...
So anyway, I decided to have a look at the cars available to me, as well as some dashboard shots online. I also looked at the UK.Gov MOT website, (which includes the full guide for testers) and the "Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986".
First off, there are no guidelines for dashboard warning/information light colours. But it seems that the various automakers have decided between them - at an international level, no less - to standardise for the most part. As I (and Tim) mentioned above, this is probably because the colours chosen for a particular warning will depend on its level of urgency.
So brake fluid/handbrake lights are invariably red. Indicator lights are almost always green, (though I also found some amber ones), and high-beam is always blue.
On the other hand, I found that airbag warning lights vary. On our Cougars they're amber, and the icon is of some poor sod in his seatbelt having a crash, with an inflated airbag pumelling his unfortunate face. However, on the Tomcat, it's a red light with "SRS" ("Supplementary Restraint System") masked over it. The MX-5 has a red LED above a white decal, and T's current whip - the Octavia - has the same thing as most other VAG cars at the moment - two amber LEDs set into a console; one to tell you that the airbags are armed, and the other to tell you that it senses weight in the passenger seat.
Incidentally, I've noticed that the high-beam indicator is almost always at the top of the instrument stack, and as close to the glareshield/binnacle as possible. Not sure if I'm right, but I think that this is because if you're using your high beams, you're probably staring intently out the windshield to see where you're going. So if a car comes the other way and you need to turn them off, having them nearly in your line of sight (and bright blue, which is very visible to dark-adjusted eyes) gives the car the best chance of reminding you that you're blinding someone.
This post has been brought to you in part by the UK government, Google, Ring Automotive, and boredom.
So anyway, I decided to have a look at the cars available to me, as well as some dashboard shots online. I also looked at the UK.Gov MOT website, (which includes the full guide for testers) and the "Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986".
First off, there are no guidelines for dashboard warning/information light colours. But it seems that the various automakers have decided between them - at an international level, no less - to standardise for the most part. As I (and Tim) mentioned above, this is probably because the colours chosen for a particular warning will depend on its level of urgency.
So brake fluid/handbrake lights are invariably red. Indicator lights are almost always green, (though I also found some amber ones), and high-beam is always blue.
On the other hand, I found that airbag warning lights vary. On our Cougars they're amber, and the icon is of some poor sod in his seatbelt having a crash, with an inflated airbag pumelling his unfortunate face. However, on the Tomcat, it's a red light with "SRS" ("Supplementary Restraint System") masked over it. The MX-5 has a red LED above a white decal, and T's current whip - the Octavia - has the same thing as most other VAG cars at the moment - two amber LEDs set into a console; one to tell you that the airbags are armed, and the other to tell you that it senses weight in the passenger seat.
Incidentally, I've noticed that the high-beam indicator is almost always at the top of the instrument stack, and as close to the glareshield/binnacle as possible. Not sure if I'm right, but I think that this is because if you're using your high beams, you're probably staring intently out the windshield to see where you're going. So if a car comes the other way and you need to turn them off, having them nearly in your line of sight (and bright blue, which is very visible to dark-adjusted eyes) gives the car the best chance of reminding you that you're blinding someone.
This post has been brought to you in part by the UK government, Google, Ring Automotive, and boredom.
